AC Guages/Windows Clustermuck

93 FZJ80
185K on the clock
All fluids synthetic and maintained by an anal wierdo

Last night while taking my wife and kiddies to the county fair I heard a whoosh under the hood that lasted for 1.5 to 2 seconds next thing I know this is no AC, no fan blowing lights are out in the temp control area. As I start scanning the dash I notice I have lost all guages except fuel as well. Also attempted to roll up windows and don't have those either. Have already bounced this off one board member and have gotten several helpful suggestions and have checked one of those before I lost daylight and I am not missing any belts so that is not the problem. Kinda thinking as this individual did that possibly the freon dumped and froze/burnt a wiriing harness somewhere in the rig that is killing all the guages and the like. Am going out this morning to start troubleshooting the obvious but this one is quite possibly going to be out of my arena of knowledge and ability so I need some of you rocket scientists out there to stop worrying about Discovery and guide me in the right direction.

It was only 100 degrees with the heat index so needless to say I turned around went home and got the Honda to take the family to the fair with. It is impossible to enjoy an event like that with your kids when all you can think and mumble to yourself about is your truck. Anyway will be checking back in off and on all day so any guidance would be appreciated fella's.

The whoosh could simply have been the freon going from properly circulating through the heat exchanger in your dash (pulls heat out of interior air and turns into a gas while it does) and then abruptly losing pressure when the compressor stopped doing its thing in mid-cycle. It normally cycles based on pressure and temp of the freon, but stopping in mid cycle may cause a wierd sound you're not used to hearing that may not indicate anything ominous as to the A/C system.

As to what caused your compressor to shut down along with the other stuff you mention - gonna be an electrical issue. I doubt all these things would be on a fusible link (pain), but would expect so widespread an area to be on a conventional circuit. Check 'em. Got an FSM, or do I have to get up from the couch where I'm watching Lance and friends and pounding an espresso at an early hour out here...?

Check 'em. Got an FSM, or do I have to get up from the couch where I'm watching Lance and friends and pounding an espresso at an early hour out here...?

DougM

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Got the FSM so keep your rear on the couch Doug. Pulled the guages fuse and it is blown but not the AC fuse. Gonna replace the fuse and go from there. Probably next step after that I will pull the battery cables and allow the computer to reset and see what happens.

OK replaced guages fuse and fired up truck. Had everything back for about 3 seconds before blowing that fuse. Replaced again and fired truck back up this time w/o the AC running and had everything back and the fuse held until I hit the AC switch at which point I lost everything again. Going to look through the FSM now and ponder a little. If anybody has a shortcut or already knows something I don't please chime in.

Ah, Lance just crossed the line and defended his lead well, so I'm about to get off my a@@ and go clean the garage and detail the 97 for my wifey. Let me know how it goes - I'll check in from time to time. Have you done anything crazy like wash your engine lately? Any other work in the engine bay?

Let me know how it goes - I'll check in from time to time. Have you done anything crazy like wash your engine lately? Any other work in the engine bay?

DougM

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No nothing like that. Although since CMCC I do need to wash the engine bay and was going to do that this very weekend until this happened. Looking through the FSM I'm seeing but not seeing how the guage fuse can be blown by the AC unit - course reading electrical schematics was never my strongest point. I had forgotten how much I hate electrical problems.

if you turn the A/C on and it blows a fuse, besides a short someplace, could also mean an overdraw of current, right? So that could mean something mechanical frozen/stuck/rubbing? Compressor or clutch? Maybe remove the A/C belt, and then turn a/c on and see if it blows. If so, then, it's purely electrical?

edit: no, this is stupid. I was thinking electric motors but the comp and clutch don't pull in elec power to run, so forget those... could be fan maybe though?

OK update. e hadn't seen your post so havn't tried that yet but it might be an idea. I just washed the engine bay (while running) as someone suggested to me that the ground for the compressor might have gotten frayed or be damaged by mud/rock etc from CMCC. After that I did try a new fuse and same scenario - wham bam blew. Oh Turbo your right the tolerances on those two wires compared to what they are run near is scary, also Turbo please start posting your thoughts up here as well as sharing them with me as they are damn helpful to others as well as myself. So here is the real conundrum, between me, IDdoug, and Turbo I kinda figure I have a ground out problem effecting the guage circuit of the rig, the windows, and god knows what else. So after this last little experiment I figure WTH and plug a 15 amp fuse into the guage slot where a 10 is what is Toyota recommended and what do you know the bastard held and everything is working fine. Course only let the rig run for about 2 minutes before shutting it down and scratching my head. If it is a ground out problem then the size of the fuse really shouldn't matter it should blow regardless, correct? Need help fella's I was hoping to drive this byatch 1300 miles at the end of this week for a wheeling trip with a few other tards and taking the whole family. Can't do it w/o AC and feeling secure - by myself is one thing but w/ 2 little kids the whole equation changes.

Thank you junkster your insight as always enlightening and appreciated. Ok drove the rig tonight to dinner cause I wanted to see how it reacted under actual road stress with the 15 amp fuse in, and after about 30 miles I once again lost the AC and about 30 seconds later the guages. Got to the restaurant and checked and had blown the 15 amp fuse. After dinner replaced the fuse and started home and noticed that now even with the guages I have no AC at all. This just keeps getting more perplexing and vexing at the same time. Anyway going to bed and gonna start fresh again tomorrow hopefully with a clear head towards the problem.